The Man Behind the Curtain
by Lionchilde
Summary: Jack’s dumb military guy routine had stopped fooling him a long time ago. Before the original expedition had even left Abydos, Daniel had determined exactly what kind of intellect was hiding behind that ingenuously ignorant façade.


  
I recently became determined to write a drabble. As a writer of epic fanfiction, I have always had respect for writers who can do drabbles, but the skill elludes me. What I ended up with was a body of ficlets mostly too long for drabble-length but shorter than even the usual length of my rare short fics. Some are connected to my Rediscovered Hearts AU and some are just random. So I'm just going to post each one separately because there's no rhyme or reason to them so it doesn't make sense to do a "collection".

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**The Man Behind The Curtain**

  
"I think he's a soothsayer," Daniel said slowly.

He and the rest of his team stood at the edge of a tiny village on P3X-541. Most of the dwellings were single-story, thatch roofed huts, and from the odors drifting out to them, he guessed that these people had never had the luxury of running water. He was having quite a bit of difficulty communicating with the three men who had greeted them. Although they were obviously human, he couldn't pinpoint the origins of their language. Whatever use the Goa'uld might once have had for this world, they had left these people to their own devices long ago—so long ago, in fact, that they had no knowledge of the Stargate. The word _Chappa'ai_ and motions indicating a large circle produced only perplexed expressions.

The three of them all wore beaded robes, but the one doing most of the talking also had an elaborate headdress, and from the way the other two deferred to him, Daniel gathered that he was the village leader. He gestured from the man at his right, whose eyes and nose were lined with blue paint, to Jack, and the CO cast a somewhat nervous look at Daniel as the stranger grabbed his hand, stared into his palm for a second, then crouched and began to etch a design in the dirt at their feet.

"A whatsayer?" Jack asked.

"A soothsayer," repeated Daniel.

"I didn't hear him say anything that sounded like 'sooth,'" Jack tilted his head.

Sam stifled a snicker, "A soothsayer, sir. A fortune teller."

Jack tilted his head the other way then began to pat the pockets of his vest. "Darn it. I left my wallet at home. I hope he doesn't want me to pay him."

Daniel closed his eyes and shook his head in fond exasperation. Jack's dumb military guy routine had stopped fooling him a long time ago. Before the original expedition had even left Abydos, Daniel had determined exactly what kind of intellect was hiding behind that ingenuously ignorant façade. A man didn't become a Colonel in the US Air Force without a keen mind and a fairly impressive education to go with it. The archaeologist had no doubt that his CO knew exactly what a soothsayer was.

"I don't think he wants you to pay him, Jack."

"Good."

"We're—we're strangers here, and they don't know where we came from or why," ventured Daniel. "They can see that you're in command, so…by…doing whatever it is he's doing, they're probably trying to determine whether or not we're safe to allow into the village. What changes we'll bring to them—" he broke off as the soothsayer stopped drawing and stood up with a startled expression. He looked from Jack to Sam, then broke into a grin and began talking excitedly to his companions.

The third one, whom Daniel had suspected was a priest due to the differences in the beaded designs on his robe and the fact that his bald head set him apart from the other two, stepped forward, looked the two of them over and nodded in agreement. All three of them began to gesture for the team to come into the village.

"Daniel…?" Jack asked warily.

"I believe that these people wish you to marry Captain Carter, O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"What?!" exclaimed Sam.

"Daniel!" Jack repeated.

"I agree with Teal'c," Daniel bit his lip.

"Forsooth!" exclaimed Jack.  



End file.
